Media statement by Lim Guan Eng in Komtar, George Town on Wednesday, 4^th April 2012: 

The Penang PR State Government shall expose UMNO Penang as a racist party 

The Penang PR state government shall expose UMNO Penang as a racist party that clearly does not want non-Muslim votes in the next general elections, by only questioning why mosque land has disappeared but not non-Muslim land in the Bayan Mutiara project. UMNO Penang has stoked fires of religious hatred against me as a non-Muslim leader by spreading dangerous lies that I have sold or caused mosque and school land to disappear when 102.6 acres of Bayan Mutiara land was sold by open competitive tender to Ivory Property Group Bhd(Ivory).

When the 102.6 acres of Bayan Mutiara land was sold by open tender, there was no sub-division of title but the entire piece of land is to be sold. BN had not made any sub-division of title on the land when they were in power. Ivory will only do sub-division of title after submission of new plans to MPPP and the Land Office for approval. The new plans and sub-division of title has not even been submitted by Ivory to the relevant authorities, how can UMNO claim that the mosque or school land has been sold or disappeared?

UMNO should be ashamed if they are indeed ignorant of local council requirements that any development projects requires land to be allocated for public purposes such as mosque, roads, parks, low medium cost housing, school and non-Muslim places of religious worship. These requirements are standard for all local councils throughout Malaysia. Using UMNO's perverse logic that mosque land has disappeared just because the land is sold to Ivory, even when Ivory has not even submitted plans to MPPP, then land for non-Muslim places of religious worship would also have disappeared.

Why then is UMNO not highlighting that non-Muslim land for religious worship has disappeared but only mosque land. Have non-Muslims no value to UMNO or no right to have their own land for religious worship? The PR state government will target UMNO areas, especially the parliamentary seat of Nibong Tebal, to let the non-Muslim voters know that UMNO have no qualms in allowing non-Muslim land to disappear.

Clearly UMNO is taking a very racist and dangerous approach in pitting race against race, religion against religion in their desperate lies to undermine my leadership and the PR state government. The PR state government will explain to the people that these are lies by UMNO and also expose to the non-Muslims that UMNO does not need their votes in the coming general elections.

Condemns Utusan Malaysia And Berita Harian's Refusal To Print Denials By The State Government And Ivory And I Will Take Defamatory Action In Court Against Penang UMNO Youth Leader, Utusan Malaysia And Berita Harian For These Lies.

Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian is condemned for refusing to print denials by the PR Penang state government and Ivory Deputy Chairman Dato Seri Nazir Ariff on this matter. Due to their refusal, I am left with no choice but to sue the two papers and also Penang UMNO Youth chief Shaik Hussein Mydin for defamation that I have caused mosque land to disappear.

I had tried to be patient when UMNO uses racial and religious rhetoric to undermine my leadership of Penang and the PR state government. But such dangerous games exploiting religion have crossed the limit with lies by that I have caused the disappearance or sold off mosque land.

Before that Shaik Hussein together with other UMNO leaders had attacked me with lies that I did not sell 102.6 acres of Bayan Mutiara land by open tender. He had continued with such lies even though the Penang state government and the developer had shown proof that the land was sold by open tender.

Shaik then continued with his lies that I had said that I did not need the support of Indians. When his lie was exposed, Shaik not only refused to apologise as promised but changed to another lie that I have caused mosque land to disappear. This time, the lie is explosive because it touches on religious sentiments and designed to create not hatred amongst Muslims against non-Muslim and me as a non-Muslim leader.

UMNO can only say that the mosque or school or even non-Muslim land has been sold or disappeared if the new plans by Ivory are approved by MPPP without any mosque, school or non-Muslim land. As a people-centric government, PR Penang has consistently held on to our fundamental principle of NOT allowing any land that has been allocated or marked for school, places of religious worship, mosque, suraus, churches, Chinese, Hindu or Buddhist temples to disappear. This will be made clear in court when the defamatory action is filed.

*Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister